Lurid leather, time travel and the trouser boot - it's adult, feisty, and very, very Brit. Tamsin Blanchard calls it Adult Frock

If you're after a wearable investment, a new London gallery could be your first stop.

One advantage of leaving your Christmas shopping to the last minute is that you can scoop up some bargains in the pre-Christmas sales, says Tamsin Blanchard.

It's no use, I'm going to have to ask for my vote back. Sleaze and broken promises I can take - it's how we expect government to behave. But what is really hard to stomach is the toe-curling spectacle of Blair and Mandelson acting like parents of teenagers trying to notch up their cool-cred. Britain is not a country of warm beer and village greens any more - it's all about John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, declared Mandelson last week. This must be news to 99 per cent of the population. But it puts the fuss over Cherie Blair's Balmoral trousers into perspective - she must have been wearing New-Labour-approved McQueen bumsters: no wonder the Queen Mother was frightened.

More and more women are seeking the services of bespoke tailors. And, increasingly, designers are looking to Savile Row for inspiration. Styling by Sophia Neophitou. Photographs by Rick Guest

Antonio Berardi and Hussein Chalayan shone out as the main attractions of London Fashion Week.

British designers continue to shock. Tamsin Blanchard, Fashion Editor, asks what's the point of London Fashion Week without the semi- nudity and dead flies.

On Thursday, London Fashion Week kicks off - and all eyes will be on Swinging London once more. British fashion rules the world, and more overseas buyers than ever are expected to attend the collections. Yet last week, Hussein Chalayan, one of our hottest designer exports, was without a sponsor for his show. Tamsin Blanchard, Fashion Editor, reports

Sleek, shiny and supple, with the bonus of sexual allure, leather has been taken up by young British designers. Tristan Webber, a superb craftsman, dresses the femme fatale, while Alexander McQueen and Antonio Berardi team go-faster stripes with intricate cutting achieved by the latest technology. Styling by Sophia Neophitou. Photographs by Desmond Muckian

No longer just the preserve of the couture houses, embroidery has taken to the streets for summer, says Melanie Rickey

people in fashion; Dai Rees' pieces are less accessories, more wearable sculptures. Annalisa Barbieri meets a designer with a difference

Forget 501s, only designer jeans will do, says Emma Cook

Energy, yes; creativity, in abundance - but did it live up to all the hype? Tamsin Blanchard chooses the best - and worst - of London Fashion Week.

Fashion week. Two words that strike terror into my heart. Because it's not just about going to the shows and seeing what's on the catwalk. It's just as much about what people wear to watch the shows. You need a different, trendy outfit for the whole week. Preferably with different matching shoes and bag (My choice: a fleece, or a fleece? A fleece I think. My smelly trainers or my not so smelly trainers?) Then it's about being looked up and down by your peers ("for goodness sake, did you see what she was wearing? That was last year's pattern/shade/shape/heel!"). Then you are studiously ignored by people who later kiss you slavishly when they are drunk at some ghastly after-show party. And lastly, you are judged not on your intelligence, wit or ability to remember Eagle songs when drunk, but on where your bottom is seated. This is also where you realise that most of what is written about fashion is utter bollocks, because nearly everyone is still wearing black. In a little twist to showing what was on the catwalk, I thought it would be fun to let you have an insight into what those nice fashion people wear to watch the shows they report on, and ask for their words of wisdom on Fashion Week. ANNALISA BARBIERI